Shotgun

...shoot him 'fore he run, now
- Jr. Walker & The All Stars



In reply to my post about the obscene phone call, drD over at Big n Juicy expressed surprise at the fact that I own a shotgun. I am not surprised that he would be surprised by this because I am surprised myself by the fact that I do own a shotgun. And if I had not met my husband I probably would not have one at all.

My husband has been hunting (birds not mammals) and fishing almost his entire life just like his father and his grandfather before him. The photo above was taken in the 1930's and shows my husband's grandfather on the right along with his great-uncles after a successful bird hunt. His grandfather's brother is on the left and his grandfather's brother-in-law is in the middle. When my husband and I first started going out he decided that he would teach me how to shoot so that I could go hunting with him. The second part of that plan never happened.

I did enjoy shooting and turned out to be what is know as an instinctive shooter. But I have never pointed my shotgun at any living creature and have no plans to do so ever. That does not mean I would not shoot an animal to protect myself or others. It just means I have no desire to hunt.

drD also asked what the proportion of gun owners to non gun owners is here in the States. If I answered that question based on what I know about the people here where I live right now I would answer everyone. Hunting is popular here and most farmers also have rifles to kill any "varmints" they find or consider a threat to their livestock and/or crops. If I answered based on the people I know in Denver I would answer almost nobody.

According to a study done by the National Institute of Justice in 1994, although there are enough guns in the United States for every adult to have one, only 25% of American citizens own guns. Seventy-five percent of the ones who do own guns have two or more. Most of these guns are use for hunting and target shooting.

According to the NRA (National Rife Association), "Numerous surveys over the last 40+ years have found that almost half of all households have at least one gun owner." I myself don't trust this statement because it is worded so strangely. Are they talking just about civilians or are they also including law enforcement and military personnel? They follow the number of gun owners sentence with this, "Some surveys since the late 1990s have indicated a smaller incidence of gun ownership, probably because of some respondents` concerns about "gun control," residually due, perhaps, to the anti-gun policies of the Clinton Administration." Huh? They believe the surveys that agree with what they want to be the truth but not with the ones that say something different? The NRA needs to have a greater number of gun owners in this country in order to give their organization more political clout in Washington.

Which statistic is correct? Well, I'd believe the National Institute of Justice before I'd believe what the NRA tells me.